I have a bunch of pictures that tell the story of our trip home from Arkansas to Michigan to New Hampshire.

For starters, from Arkansas to Michigan is a long long drive. We’d stayed with the nicest family in all of Russellville, AR and they loved chocolate and everything with sugar in it. Tommy ate more candy in 15 minutes than I’ve ever seen anyone eat in one day. The sugar went to his head and now he’s acting a bit loopy as seen here.

Rich was in the best of moods throughout the week, primarily because his lady-friend Kate was in town. She smoked the Tri-Peaks criterium and the two of them had a nice trip in the back of the van all 16 hours back to Michigan. Dang, that’s a long drive. They were plenty quiet and Rich mostly slept on the floor while Kate had the luxury of the bench. Fun times.

Many hours later, we all arrived at the Olson’s and unpacked all of our goodies into their front yard. Robbie had left his car at the Olson’s as well as his trailer and a bunch of gear from his car. Tons of stuff, to be exact. We spent most of the morning repacking his car for the journey back to NH, which was made possible by the Olson’s love of coffee. They have some excellent coffees and coffee makers, so we were well caffeinated for the pack and early part of the trip. Robbie put in the first effort and drove a monstrous 8 hours or so before I took the helm. By then his coffee had worn out, as seen here.

One of my biggest surprises, as mentioned in the previous entry, was that going into Canada was tougher than going into the US. Robbie and I waited in a pretty lengthy line to get back from Canada to the US, but the line going the other way was five times longer! Those Canadian mounted police are a tough group. My favorite question is “Do you have any firearms?” Well, duh, of course you’re going to answer no, whether or not you actually have them. There are no dogs, no searches, nothing crazy like that… just the question.

Robbie had been asking the team throughout this southern swing if we could eat at Hardey’s for a Philly Cheesesteak Thickburger. The ad makes it look absolutely enormous - it’s like two huge sandwiches in one: a cheesesteak and a big ol’ burger. Sadly the actual burger looked nothing like the ad, but it was still tasty and Hardey’s ranks high on my favorite burger chains.

Robbie and I raced the world famous Hartford (CT) Downtown Criterium on Sunday May 28th. There were some pretty reputable riders there and some hot shot local teams. Davide Fattini was there, some dude on AEG, Fior di Frutta had something crazy like 13 racers, Boston Scientific was in full force, and Nerac.com/OutdoorLighting was hosting the race, so they had a sizeable squad. Long story short, FdF lead it out from about 5 laps to go; Robbie tried to pimp them with 1/2 lap to go, which was an awesome move because he gapped the field, but unfortunately Mike Cody was right on Robbie’s tail, so he had a free ride to the finish. I was sitting 5th wheel and came away with a stormingly fast sprint to take 2nd. Mike 1st, Me 2nd, Robbie 3rd. The rest of results.

Not bad since we just had the two of us and FdF had 13 dudes.

It’s Mayo’s birthday today! We’re in Vermont and she turns 23 today. She’s awesome and tomorrow she’s coming with us to Philly. Goooood times.

Hey Gang,
I’m now in lovely Vermont visiting my dearest Mayo. We’re now at her family’s art gallery, which recently got a sweet espresso machine - thanks to me picking it up in New Hampshire. The coffee is great and the wireless is fast… plus the riding here is awesome, so things in Vermont are good.

Robbie and I made it home from TriPeaks in fewer than 36 hours, thanks to IronButt-Ben-Oliver who drove all but 2 hours (when I took over) from Russellville, AR to Michigan. Next, Robo and I drove 17 straight hours from Michigan, through Canada, back to Brentwood. I found it a bit odd that the line of car traffic going east-to-west from NY to Canada in Niagra Falls was twice as long as going into the States. Hooray for homeland security, huh?

And lastly to keep your eyes entertained, here is a picture that came with the “Sample Pictures” on my computer. It’s called Big Wave or Big Surf or something like that.

Hi All,

We’re now in the very northwest part of Arkansas in Fayetteville, AR (see the map). As the second-to-last post mentioned, Team Priority Health drove all day Tuesday from Alabama to Arkansas to end up in this beauty of a town. When we rolled in late at night, we were greated by the owner of the host house with giddy jumping jacks from the street and sporatic yelps, “Over here! You made it! Hooray!” That was a kick for the team since we’d been stuck in the car and van all day with very little entertainment. We then ended up having to drive another half-hour to the actual host house, which is the aforementioned woman’s lake house. We’re in a really remote spot, a solid 30 minute drive from civilization (aka, the actual Fayetteville, where the University of Arkansas is located). We have a beautiful brown lake just yard behind the house and we live on a dirt road that is just off the next main road where we are chased by dogs at literally every other house. Yup, this is the life. I’m being a bit sarcastic here; it’s actually an awesome house and it works perfectly for the team. We’re never bothered by the neighbors - just their dogs; the house is the perfect size and like I said in the last post, Robbie and I are really enjoying having to share the master bedroom suite and its king size water bed.

Arkansas is the place to be this time of year because of the Joe Martin Stage Race (May 12-14) and Tri-Peaks Stage Race (May 17-21). I knew right when I woke up that the first stage of Joe Martin was going to be a good one for me because it was a gorgeous day, the coffee was delicious, and right when I turned on SportsCenter, it was as if it were perfectly queued up, because they were showing the previous day’s Top-10 plays! I thought, “Wow, this is a sign. THIS is going to be a good day!”

Stage 1 was a 108 mile road race with one pretty lengthy climb towards the end and then a long drag into town. Sparing details to keep the attrition rate of readers low, I felt awesome all day, managed to even throw in some attacks on the climb(!), and then finished the day designated as the team’s sprinter where I took 4th place behind Gord Fraser, Ivan Stevic, and Alex Candelario. I managed to keep Scott Moninger at bay and relegated him to 5th place. Here’s a podium shot of the top 4… I’m that handsome fellow on the left. The top 5 were asked to go on stage, but a certain someone was too cool for school and didn’t show up.

The next day began with a 92 mile stage and ended with a 2.5 mile uphill time trial. I rolled off the front with a group of about 12 just 10 miles into the race and stayed away the entire day. That breakaway split from 12 riders to just 4, half-way into our epic day, and the 4 of us really dropped the hammer for the subsequent 40 miles only to be caught by the peloton just 3km from the finish. I felt like crying when we were swept up, but was actually really proud of my effort. It ended up saving the team from having to chase all day and we then delivered Rich to 3rd place.

Blah blah blah, the team rode awesome the rest of the weekend and Rich rode like a champion; he ended up scoring a very respectible 5th place on GC. It should be noted that more than 215 people were in our race, so beating 210 of them is no small feat! The team finished 5th in team GC and we’re really starting our upward peak at the right time with a bunch of huge races on the horizon for June and early July.

In related news, the fact that we did this well is very impressive since Robbie, Tommy, Brian, Glen, and I were all sick with one illness or another throughout the past week. Tommy has been losing it out both ends, Mighty Mighty Glen was too ill to start the final stage,
Brian has been lethargic and nursing a cold, but still managed to put in a monsterously heroic effort on Friday’s opening stage, and Robbie and I have been boogering and snotting non-stop for days. (The picture is of Brian putting the hurt to himself and to the field.)

I already miss my chops, so I started growing a chin strap to replace my lack of facial hair. Robbie has a pretty Amish-looking chinstrap (think Abe Lincoln), whereas mine is pretty badass thin. It makes me look tough and mean. Here’s a picture of me being tough and mean. You’d better watch out or I’ll have to get tough and mean on you.

I’ve been talking to my family back home in New Hampshire and they’re letting me know that I’m not missing any good riding by being in Arkansas. In fact, it’s been described as New Orleans-like, with all the flooding! I just saw a bunch of pictures from the local online newspaper and it’s unreal the amount of water that’s accumulating. I recommend this site, since a lot of the pictures are near my house.

Ummmm yeah, that’s all for now. I’m hungry. Robbie made an enormous loaf of banana bread and it needs to be consumed.

1. The Athens Twilight Criterium. Mayhem. Chaos. Riding in a circus. Deafening. These are attempts at describing the Athens Twilight Criterium, but until you actually take part in the race, it is truly impossible to understand. Perhaps the estimated 30,000 fans could try to describe it to you. Actually, cancel that – they were all too drunk to remember anything about it.

2. Crappy Racing Roads. The roads that we raced on were generally in such decrepit condition that they give you a strong appreciation for the good roads that you race everywhere else in the country. (In all honestly, though, the training throughout the south was generally amazing. The climbs are awesome and the weather has been nearly perfect. Lookout Mountain is just about the best riding I’ve ever experienced.)

3. Beer. I was offered beer before, during, and after all of my races here in the south. Beer is apparently the official beverage of choice in this part of the country. Hard liquor places a close second.

4. Southern Hospitality. Southerners’ main objective while you’re in their care is to ensure you are as comfortable and happy as possible . The deep fried fish, huge beds, the infinitude of “Can I get you anything?“, and coffee maker in my bathroom really make it feel you feel like royalty.

5. Road Kill. Okay, sure this is a weird one, but this is a list of the Top 10 Reasons to Visit the South, right? So if for some reason you like road kill, then you’ll love it here. I haven’t traveled more than a quarter mile on my carbon steed without seeing some carcass stretched ten yards across the road. Be it armadillos, opossums, frogs, or perhaps a handful of typically in-house animals, it’s just plain gross.

6. The Accents. Traveling with a pair of Aussies and one Kiwi is funny as is. Incorporating them into the heart of southern society is an entirely different situation, as we Americans act as translators from Australian English to/from Southern English.

7. USA Crits. This new-for-2006 series had 6 races in 8 days. It also had $75,000 in prize money. The only thing that would make this better is if they thought of having the races in some sort of geographic order. Driving from Georgia to South Carolina to Alabama just doesn’t make sense when it involves 6+ hour driving transfers.

8. Y’All.

9. To Get Sick. This is similar to number 5; it’s not necessarily a good reason to visit the south, but it’s a reason nonetheless. In the three weeks we’ve been here Brian, Robbie, Tommy, Glen, and I have all been sick with one illness or another. I’m not saying the south is making us sick, but I’m not denying that fact either.

10. Keally. This one is last because it strictly applies to Tommy. Keally was one of the girls who came up on stage with us finalists in Athens for the Computrainer Finals. She’s come to visit him, driving all the way from Athens, GA to Anniston, AL. Now that’s true love… after a one week relationship.

Hold onto your pants, ladies and gentlemen, cause this is going to be a long one.

After exhibiting incredible dominance in the first four days of the Tour of Shenandoah, the Priority Health boys found themselves in a slight jam going into Saturday’s 15 mile time trial. Our big hitter, Tom “I Eat Time Trials For Breakfast” Zirbel was out of the race due to an unfortunate incident with an uncoordinated triathlete, so it was up to the rest of the team to step up to the plate. Brent Bookwalter, who sat in second place overall, threw down a blistering sub-30 minute time, thereby catapulting himself into first place with just a criterium left in the tour. Again, Priority Health rode a stellar race in the final stage and led Brent to the overall victory – in addition to the yop U-23 title he earned.

Meanwhile, the criterium team found ourselves touring the southeast, jumping from Georgia on Saturday and Sunday (April 29 & 30), to South Carolina from Wednesday through Friday, and then off to Alabama for the following Saturday and Sunday. As previously mentioned, we were shorthanded for the first two races with just five racers and no staff, and as a result, I found myself logging enormous numbers of miles driving the team van. Thankfully we added Tom Zirbel (racer), Brian Sheedy (racer/manager/do-it-all-guy), and Ben Oliver (mechanic) on Tuesday night for the four consecutive races.

Wednesday’s Walterboro Criterium was once again characterized by a surprising lack of successful breakaways, as seen in the previous two days of racing. Toyota-United has the strongest team in this series and looked as though they could control anything and everything, but even when there was a combination of riders from the best teams in a breakaway up the road, there were repeated attacks from the main field that brought the breakaway right back. So Walterboro went the same as the others, with Priority Health being represented in repeated attacks on this gnarly course (pot holes, crummy roads, and a super narrow final straight away), but nothing ever materialized. At the end of it, there were a few teams trying ther hardest to do a lead out train, but inevitably Toyota got to the front and lead out Ivan or JJ. My best news is that I felt like He-Man in this race! I covered what felt like a dozen moves and found myself in a handful of breakaways. Yet, as to be expected, Toyota ended the day with a victory. Phooey.

We packed up Thursday morning and drove to Greenwood, SC about 2 hours away. We stayed in this great place called the Jameson Inn. I think we were the only people staying in the place and we reaped the benefits by being fed dozens of freshly baked cookies that night, post-race. The race itself wasn’t terribly interesting – it was pretty much the same as the previous three days of racing with futile attacks, 60-70% attrition rate, and the race coming down to a bunch sprint – although Tom Zirbel did puncture his elbow pretty impressively. The poor guy was crashed out of Shenandoah just a few days before and then he was caught in a crash here in Greenwood. So for the elbow, we were checking out his wounds at the hotel that night and it looked as though he had a half-centimeter diameter hole in his elbow! It was gross, although in a position so that it was virtually impossible for him to see, so he couldn’t be terribly grossed out (it’s like that trick: try to lick your own elbow). After freshening up, we went on my first ever trip to Ruby Tuesday’s around 10pm and were treated to some awesome burgers, a huge salad bar, and some wicked good chocolate milk… which we were told had free refills, but that turned out to be false.

Friday morning saw us driving to Spartanburg, SC for the fifth of the series of six races. We’ve had awesome weather throughout the week, but our luck ran out when the sky opened up and it poured buckets for hours! I would rate the road for this crit a 2 out of 10; it was uneven, featured a long, wide, deep crevice up the middle of the final straight away, metal barriers directly on the course to direct us around the metal drainage grate, and had numerous man-hole covers around the corners. It was like a mine field! This of course was made even more dangerous with sopping wet roads. Zirbel bravely started (and finished strongly!) this race, which wowed me, considering his punctured elbow. Additionally, we gained the always mighty Brent Bookwalter who was in town from college just 2 hours away. After racing the first half of the race towards the back of the very strung out field, I finally catapulted myself directly to the front and soon thereafter off the front in a three man breakaway. It was rather short lived, so after 3 laps we were reeled back in, but I stayed much closer to the front of the field after this stint so that felt good. Brent and Rich both finished in the top-10 and the rest of us finished safely, which was a hefty accomplishment considering the weather.

I had noticed prior to the race on a warm up spin that about a quarter mile out of town there was a very old building with an authentically antique, neon “Krispy Kreme” sign out front. I continued warming up and waited until after the hectic race to tell the rest of the team about our soon-to-be-post-race-recovery-food. Immediately after the race, a group of fans came up and started asking all sorts of questions and having us sign stuff and take their pictures with us. I asked them what they knew about that Krispy Kreme and they told me that it was the original store. As in, the original, first ever Krispy Kreme. They were very believable and seemed to be convinced that they were right, but I just checked out the official KK website and discovered that the first every Krispy Kreme began in Winston-Salem, NC in 1937 – not Spartanburg, SC. Regardless, this building looked to be at least 70 years old and it looked reminiscent of the old pictures you often see inside modern Krispy Kreme.

Cutting to the chase, Ben, Glen, Tommy, and I thoroughly enjoyed a box around 10:30pm on our way to a chaotic night of host housing. That night ended up allowing Tommy and me not enough sleep. See, our accommodations were wonderful and we each had our own beds, but we were up late talking to our kind hosts, and then awake entirely too early so that we could meet their daughter and son-in-law for what felt like a sun-rise-breakfast. (Un)fortunately, they had a full carafe of (decaf) coffee for us in the morning, so we could (not) fully wake up. Dang. In all honestly, it was a good stay.

Saturday morning required that we drive about 5 hours from South Carolina to Alabama for the last of the criteriums. Here’s a shot of Glen entertaining us at an exit immediately off the highway.
Apparently pro bike racing doesn’t always pay terribly well, so he’s been hired by Hardee’s burger joint to do some outdoor advertising to passing by motorists.

That and a $180 speeding ticket were the highlights of the drive. We rolled up to lovely Anniston, AL mid-afternoon and were escorted from the highway by our host Bill to his neighborhood. You can see the golf course in the background of this shot.

He was very proud to be driving his motorcycle and we learned that he just bought it the previous year and had hardly ever used it. The team again split into three different houses, but thankfully we were all next to each other rather than dispersed throughout the town. When Rich, Tom, and I were being shown around our house, I walked right by the room that I ended up sleeping in, thinking that it was the master bedroom. Nope, turned out that I was the lucky guy to get the enormous guest room with King sized bed, walk in closet, and tv. Furthermore, I wasn’t going to have to suffer any problems with decaf coffee; my bathroom came equipped with its own coffee bar!

Sunny King was the name of the race in downtown Anniston, and it was an incredibly popular event. There were something like 26 restaurants that set up tents and had meals for sale, there were climbing walls, concerts all day, and tons of other stuff. Rich instigated a ton of attacks and managed to be in one breakaway or another for most of the day. Victor Rapinski really blew everyone away and was solo off the front for 36 of the 70 laps, just racking up prime after prime. Tommy ended up capping off his week with his best yet in the series 7th place finish. Yet again, Toyota-United won and there were about 40 finishers of 120+ starters.

That night after returning to our host house Rich, Tom, and I were lounging around waiting for our hosts to get back from the post-race festivities. They came home far later than we expected and were ceaseless in offering us beverages.

“Do you want beer?”
“No thanks.”
“No, we really have beer. Do you want beer?”
“Seriously, no thank you. We’re all set.”
“Okay, well we have beer and vodka and bourbon. Do you want bourbon. Do you want beer?”
“Please, seriously, we don’t want anything to drink. We’re fine.”
“Well, we also have coffee. Yup, coffee with half-and-half. Do you want that in the morning?
“Yes, coffee will be good, although we’re pretty beat, so I think we’ll go to bed soon.”
“Before you go, make sure you take a few beers upstairs with you.”

…if you repeat that conversation about 15 times, that’s the gist of our night. It was a kick. The whole time I was thinking: Wow, now that’s southern hospitality.

The next night, our three host houses and a few other host houses in a nearby neighborhood teamed up and we had a very tasty fish fry! The gentlemen frying the fish were very proud of their “spotted trout from the Gulf of Mexico” and made sure that we admitted we’d never had spotted trout before. The dinner was incredibly tasty and capped off a great trip to Alabama.

Yesterday (Monday May 8), we packed up the van, trailer, and car and departed only 90 minutes after scheduled to Fayetteville, AR. It was an epic 12 hour driving day, made possible by mechanic Ben’s stellar driving skills (he drove the van the entire way). The drive was relatively uneventful, but we’re now at a lake house where I think the highlight is the king-size waterbed that Robbie and I share… here’s a picture of that.